StockNews.com Downgrades HP (NYSE:HPQ) to Hold

StockNews.com cut shares of HP (NYSE:HPQ - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on HP from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of HP from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of HP from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of HP from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on HP from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.14.

Remove Ads

HP Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:HPQ traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.42. 10,168,027 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,807,575. The firm has a market cap of $22.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.34, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.11. HP has a fifty-two week low of $21.21 and a fifty-two week high of $39.80.

HP (NYSE:HPQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The computer maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.74. The company had revenue of $13.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.35 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 253.39% and a net margin of 5.18%. Research analysts predict that HP will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

HP Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 12th were given a $0.2894 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. HP's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.37%.

Insider Activity

In other HP news, insider Stephanie Liebman sold 15,646 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.00, for a total value of $453,734.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Anneliese Olson sold 21,545 shares of HP stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.49, for a total value of $613,817.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 169 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,814.81. This represents a 99.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On HP

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HPQ. Norges Bank bought a new stake in HP in the fourth quarter valued at about $229,320,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of HP by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,770,491 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $885,877,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477,977 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of HP by 145.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,555,989 shares of the computer maker's stock valued at $116,031,000 after acquiring an additional 2,105,104 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in HP during the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,260,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in HP during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,612,000. 77.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About HP

HP Inc provides products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. It operates through Personal Systems and Printing segments. The Personal Systems segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, thin clients, commercial tablets and mobility devices, retail point-of-sale systems, displays and other related accessories, software, support, and services for the commercial and consumer markets.